by John P. Pratt
26 April 2013, 1 Birth (Venus)
©2013 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.
| 1. Nine Phases |
| 1.1 Formerly Only Eight |
| 1.2 Updated Venus Calendar |
| 1.3 Sacred Round Days |
| 2. Corrections |
| 2.1 Life of Christ |
| 2.2 Manna Ends on Good Friday |
| 2.2.1 40 Years end on 1 Birth |
| 2.2.2 "Good Friday" Witnesses |
| 2.3 Fall of Jerusalem |
| 3. Creation Pattern |
| 3.1 Isaac's Birth |
| 3.2 Book of Mormon Witnesses |
| 3.3 Announcements to Pharaoh |
| 3.4 Solomon's Temple Location |
| 4. Ordination Dates |
| 4.1 Enos & Venus |
| 4.2 Antediluvian Dates |
| 4.2.1 Seth's Birth Date |
| 4.2.2 Enoch's Ordination Date |
| 4.2.3 Strangest Scripture |
| 4.3 Joseph Smith, Sr. |
| 5. A House of Order |
| 5.1 Third Witness: Life Event |
| 5.1.1 Birth-Death Intervals |
| 5.1.2 John the Baptist |
| 5.1.3 Double Cycle Intervals |
| 5.2 Three Witnesses |
| 6. Parent-Child |
| 6.1 Antediluvian Patriarchs |
| 6.2 Lucy & Hiram & Joseph |
| 7. Husband-Wife |
| 7.1 Abraham & Sarah |
| 7.2 Isaac & Rebekah |
| 7.3 Jacob & Leah & Rachel |
| 7.4 Joseph & Asenath |
| 8. Conclusion |
| Notes |
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This work has been a project of intense interest for this author for the last 25 years, and is still a work in progress. All published results have been in the form of articles, all available free on my website. No book has been published yet because the results have not seemed finalized enough.
My work does not claim that this is an ancient calendar that was ever used by any culture. It is all derived from principles and cycles of Native American calendars such as the Mayan and Aztec; but while it is well known that they tracked the cycles of the "Dawn Star", there is no known evidence that they used this particular version. But what is claimed is that God seems to be using the Venus Calendar for important religious events throughout history. Because Native Americans claim that a white and bearded god named Quetzalcoatl visited them in the first century AD (which sounds a lot like the resurrected Christ), it may well be that long ago these principles were understood by them.
The first announcement of the existence of a Venus Calendar was made in 2001, just prior to the very rare event of Easter Sunday coinciding with the rising of Venus as a "bright and morning star" (Rev. 22:16), just as it did on the morning of the Resurrection of the Savior on Sun 3 Apr AD 33.[1] By that time work had already progressed on it since 1989 when a grant was provided which allowed me to work full time on discovering why so many scriptures used Venus cycles such as 40-year and 430-year periods.
Then an entire series of articles appeared, using the Venus Calendar, along with other sacred calendars, to date many events in Biblical history, especially including birth and death dates of key prophets such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (and their wives) as well well as Adam, Moses, David, and of course Jesus Christ. Those dates and links to the articles discussing them are summarized in my Religious Chronology Summary.
The most recent article in 2010 discussed how key events in the life of Jesus Christ all fit the Venus Calendar.[2] That article included an updated discussion of the actual workings of the Venus Calendar. Reading the very first article and that last one would be helpful to understanding all the is presented here.
Let us now turn first to looking at another update of the current model of the Venus Calendar, then seeing how that update makes minor corrections to formerly published results that actually improve their heavenly witness, and finally considering new witnesses for the veracity of the scriptures.
Until now, my articles have discussed eight orbital points in the Venus cycle, with days when Venus is at those locations being considered "holy days". These days begin and end "phases" in the "life cycle" of Venus, such as birth, death, and resurrection. There are two consecutive holy days at each orbital point, being the last day of one phase and the first day of the next. The name of the phase, such as "Birth", usually refers to the entire phase. If the holy day is meant, it is usually stated "1 Birth", meaning the first day of the Birth phase or "0 Birth", meaning the last day of the preceding phase. Zero is used so that one does not have to remember the number of the last day of each phase.
To understand this update section, let us review the history of the publication of those points. If the reader wishes to skip these details, just look at the figures and go to Section 2.
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Those eight points seemed like enough, especially because of the similar Mercury Calendar. The Mercury cycle is so short that it only allows for eight points in some cycles, so that seemed like the maximum. Then it came time to do an article about how key events of the Savior's life all occurred on Venus holy days. That made a lot of sense especially if He is the same as the Quetzalcoatl god who visited the Americas in the first Century AD and explained that the Dawn Star (Venus) symbolized Him. That also matches the Bible, where Jesus also identified himself as the "bright and morning star" (Rev. 22:16).
As that article was being prepared, the author could no longer ignore that there was another point that was crying to be included. It was the day on which the Savior began His public ministry on Sat 6 Apr AD 30. It was the Morning Star equivalent of "Prime" in the Evening Star cycle. Orbital symmetry between the brightest points of the evening and morning star demanded that it be included for astronomical reasons. So the point "Lord" was changed to be there instead. Part of the rationale for doing that was then most key events of the Savior's life occurred on the eight sacred points. All but one occurred also on Hebrew holy days, such as Passover. That was so compelling that I changed it, concluding that the earlier choice for "Lord" was based on not knowing exactly how to intercalate (occasionally drop a 13-day cycle) in some cases. In other words, it was concluded that all of the dates formerly called "Lord" were really "Creation", which occurs only 13 days later. Moreover, there appeared to be no point in the Savior's life that could have been "Lord" so it was concluded that must have been a mistake because the pattern was so strong and so impossible to have occurred by chance. Figure 1 shows the first 8 orbital points as shown in that last article, numbered from 1 to 8. Figure 2 illustrates how these same points are seen by an observer on earth.
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There is an important correspondence of the Venus Calendar to the Sacred Round of Native Americans. First of all, both the Evening and Morning cycles are always 260 days in length, the same length as the Sacred Round. Moreover, the Sacred Round includes a cycle of 20 days which represent the steps in life. Most of those steps occur after death, with only three from birth to death! On the other hand, the Aztecs taught that the cycles of Venus represented the life of their god Quetzalcoatl, who was born, was cut off in life at his prime (represented by the Evening Star), descended into the underworld, conquered death, and then rose as a bright Morning Star at his resurrection. It was that legend that got me started in this research when it was discovered that the planet Venus was indeed rising as a bright Morning Star on the morning described in the New Testament as the date of Jesus' resurrection. The point here is that because both the cycles of Venus and the Sacred Round describes steps of life, if they are founded on true principles, then there should be a correspondence of days between them.
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It was easy to correlate the few steps during "life" because the Mayan priests explained the meaning[6], and they fit the Venus pattern perfectly. But after Death, there are 7 steps in the underworld before resurrection. Then there are eight more to arrive at "Lord", the highest step before the cycle begins again.
There is little doubt which step is "Lord" because the last step in the Venus cycle is so near the first that it seems to clearly be the last step of the Sacred Round (Flower or "Lord"). Resurrection must be either Reed or Grass (new grass growing out of a skull). Because Reed is the symbol of Christ, and because it is opposite Temple (Birth) on the wheel of twenty, there is little doubt that Reed represents Resurrection.
The difficult one was to identify which of the next six glyphs is "Fulness". "Eagle" appears to be the correct choice for several reasons. First, it is opposite "Serpent" on the wheel and Fulness corresponds to Prime, which is "Serpent". Second, Eagle is located at about the right place in the Morning Star series, about a quarter of the way from Resurrection to Lord. Finally, it seems like the glyph should be odd-numbered in the cycle because all the bright points are. Points 2 and 6 are Quickening and Death, where it enters into darkness. Glyph 4 is the Dragon, representing when evil enters a person's life, according to the Mayan priests. That might be the beginning of the "natural man" phase of life, which is evil by nature and an enemy to God (Mosiah 3:19). So phase number 4 also seems to represent leaving the light of childhood and entering the darkened state of adulthood. "Prime" follows and occurs when Venus is brightest during its life. Prime may well represent being "born again", receiving the wise heart of a serpent. Being reborn is also associated with becoming childlike, teachable, and again entering into the light. Both the earth and Jesus were baptized at "Prime", and baptism symbolizes being born again. Thus, at least before resurrection, the even numbers are associated with periods of darkness/evil and the odd with light/righteousness. The point Fulness in the orbit is where Venus is brightest as a morning star, so it should be associated with an odd number. This explanation is included to show current reasoning because this is a work in progress, and it is not crystal clear which glyph goes with Fulness.
It should also be noted that some of these steps may refer to ordinances as required steps for salvation. The step called "Water" was said to represent being washed clean of sins, and Jesus was baptized on the day Water. With that in mind, the days Jaguar and Eagle seem tied to lesser and higher priesthoods, so the word "Fulness" also suggests the "Fulness of the Priesthood". The Mayan priests were very mystical when explaining their meaning. Hence a word was chosen to at least describe how the planet looks at this point in the cycle.
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Figure 4 illustrates the correspondence of the Sacred Round (the outside circle of the center part of the famous Aztec Calendar stone) to the Venus Calendar phases. Note that Birth is opposite Resurrection, and that a straight line between them divides the circle in half. The light colored area on the right is the Morning Star cycle, with Venus rising in the east as the dawn star. The Evening Star cycle on the left comprises only three steps: Birth, Adult, and Prime. Nearly all of the other steps are after life as a spirit in the underworld, and then after resurrection. Note also that the one step of Quickening (when the spirit first enters the baby in the womb), is also a dark period when Venus is hidden. It is between when it sets as a Morning Star and rises at its birth as an Evening Star. You might want to look back at Figures 1 and 2 to see how each phase correlates to the actual Venus orbit. The hidden phases occur when Venus is so close to the sun as to be invisible, and it indeed appears to plunge into the earth at death.
Note also the great differences in lengths. The three phases "Birth" to "Prime" comprise the entire Evening Star cycle, but only takes three out of twenty days of the Sacred Round. On the other hand, the "Death" portion of the Sacred Round comprises 7 days, more than a third of the entire cycle. But "Death" is only a tiny part of the Venus Cycle, as shown in Figs. 1-3.
The addition of another orbital point and a new mathematical Venus Calendar model necessarily cause a few corrections to previously published results. In virtually every case, these corrections improve the symbolism of the alignments. They also tend to fill out a celestial pattern even better than before. Let us now look at some of these corrections.
Throughout this article many dates previously published will be used. Rather than repeat here all the details of what they are and how they were found, if readers are interested details can all be found on my Religious Chronology Summary with links directly to the paragraphs of articles discussing the discovery of those dates, with the accompanying historical information.
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There were two weaknesses in the results of that last article about Christ. First, there was one event that did not also occur on a holy day on the PHC. That one exception was that the Venus date 1 Quickening was thought to fall on the day Jesus was presented at the temple on his 40th day of life (when 39 days old). That looked like a natural fit because 1 Quickening occurs 39 days after 1 Creation, on which it was thought he was born.
The second deficiency was that the original day "Lord" had to be changed so that it did fit. That wasn't cheating because there really is an orbital point there, and it was believed that nine points could not be allowed and would break the beautiful symmetry. Thus it seemed justified.
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Shifting Christ's birth date to 1 Lord also shifts the day 1 Quickening, which was the one that didn't fall on a holy day previously. Now it falls 13 days later, on the Feast of Firstfruits (Pentecost), when Joseph and Mary were still in the Jerusalem area for that feast. That is the date already proposed in my articles for the visit of the Magi.
The ninth and new point added is that Christ's eight birthday (on Passover) occurred on 1 Creation. That is a perfect match for the day beginning the "natural man" phase of life, when one is accountable for his actions. As stated above, that day is symbolized by 1 Adult on the Venus Calendar and by Dragon on the Sacred Round. It has been revealed in modern times that children should be baptized at age eight (D&C 20:71, 68:27) because before that time it is not required because children are pure. But if they reach that age of accountability and can be tempted by Satan, then baptism becomes necessary for salvation.
It should also be noted that eight years comes out even in Venus cycles. That is, after eight years beginning on any date, Venus will be at the same phase on the nearly same day of the year, having completed five cycles (5 x 584 = 8 x 365 days). So the practice of baptizing at age eight automatically brings the Venus cycle into the picture, just as it did for Christ reaching accountability at age eight.
Thus, all nine Venus orbital points are represented, and all fall on Hebrew holy days also. The results are summarized in Table 3 and illustrated in Figure 5. Note that the day "1" is the first day of that phase, and "0" is really the last day of the previous phase.
| Event | Gregorian | Venus Day | PHC | S. Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christ born | Wed 5 Apr 1 BC* | 1 Lord | Passover | 1 Reed |
| Magi Visit | Sun 27 May 1 BC | 1 Quickening | Firstfruits | 1 Serpent |
| To Egypt | Wed 5 Jul 1 BC* | 1 Birth | Mourning | 1 Dragon |
| From Egypt | Thu 22 Mar AD 1 | 1 Death | Consecration | 1 Dragon |
| Accountable | Tue 8 Apr AD 8 | 1 Creation | Passover | 1 Flint |
| Baptism | Sat 6 Oct AD 29 | 0 Prime | Atonement | 13 Water |
| Public Ministry | Sat 6 Apr AD 30 | 0 Fulness | Passover | 13 Monkey |
| Transfiguration | Sat 2 Oct AD 32 | 0 Adult | Atonement | 13 Light |
| Resurrection | Sun 3 Apr AD 33 | 1 Resurrection | Easter | 13 Temple |
There are several other minor corrections to former results. Most of them are that some of the dates that had been thought to be 1 Creation were really 1 Lord. Rather than discuss each of these separately, the updated corrected list is now posted on my Religious Chronology Summary page.
There is one series of dates which are all related and which need special explanation. The details of the Perpetual Hebrew Calendar (PHC) are still being worked out. Right from the outset twenty-five years ago it was noticed that the year ending in Moses' death, and the following year which began as Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, was a borderline case of exactly when the year ended. There were good reasons for choosing either way. Now it's time to reverse my choice.
There was a date which just jumped out as incredibly rare. It was Sat 3 Apr 1422 BC, which was one of two candidates to be 1 Nisan (New Year's Day) that year. It was sacred on several calendars, and moreover, it began the cycles of the Sacred Round (1 Light), and Mercury (1 Creation), and the PHC if it were 1 Nisan. It seemed perfect for a time of new beginning. So it was included it in my article on the Exodus, noting how incredibly rare it is. Moreover, by having 1 Nisan fall on Sat 3 Apr, it meant that the day on which the manna ceased falling (16 Nisan) fell on Easter Sunday. That seemed meaningful, but the symbolism was unclear.[7]
There was one problem with that date for 1 Nisan which puzzled me. Nothing happened on that marvelous date! It was not the day they entered Canaan, nor was it mentioned at all. It was labeled "Entering Canaan" because it seemed to begin that period. Now further research has changed two important results. First of all, a better understanding of the PHC shows that Sat 3 Apr 1422 BC was definitely not New Year's Day, which instead occurred on Thu 1 Apr 1422 BC. And secondly, 3 Apr was also not 1 Birth on the Venus Calendar, according to the improved Venus Calendar. So two of the three "first day of cycle" coincidences have disappeared!
The good news is that 1 Birth on the Venus Calendar did in fact fall on a day that is explicitly mentioned in the Book of Joshua. It was the day on which the manna ceased to fall, 16 Nisan (Josh. 5:11-12), which was Fri 16 Apr 1422 BC.
The Venus Calendar has many series of 40-year Venus cycles, which can begin and end in the same month of the year. The children of Israel were in the wilderness for 40 years. The beginning of the 40-year cycle occurred at the parting of the Red Sea, the day (Tue 14 Apr 1462 BC) being 1 Birth on the Venus Calendar with the evening beginning the Last Day of Passover. The current updated version of the Venus Calendar shows that the 40-year period ended just after the crossing of the Jordan River, on Fri 16 Apr 1422 BC during Passover week, the very day on which the manna ceased.
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In all my work in calendars for over three decades, never before has a witness of Good Friday jumped out at me. There is nothing in the law of Moses prescribed to do on the Friday before Easter. No big events seemed associated with that day. With this correction, everything has changed. There are now three witnesses of Good Friday, and that is the number required for me to publish!
First of all, remember that the manna was the "Bread of Heaven", which symbolized Jesus Christ who would come down to earth and then be taken up again (John 6:32, 51). So the days on which the manna began and ended, both of which are precisely recorded in the Book of Exodus, might be very important symbols of events in the life of Christ.
On three sacred calendars, the day on which the manna ended was the Friday before Easter (on that calendar). First, in the year of the Crucifixion, it was the Friday before "Easter" on the PHC (and the Mosaic Calendar Moses was using), which is always on the Sunday following Passover, when the Firstfruits of the Ground are waved before the Lord (Lev. 23:10-11).
Secondly, in that year it was also the Friday before "Easter" on the Priest Calendar. The morning on which Jesus resurrected was "1 Jachin" (which means "Upright", or "Arisen"). Because of that, and perhaps other reasons, that day represents Easter on the Priest Calendar. It always occurs on a Sunday, as does Easter. But was that just a chance coincidence that the manna ceased on that Friday or is there an indication that we were supposed to look at the Priest Calendar? The answer is that the day on which the manna began was the first day of the Priest cycle, suggesting to look at the Priest Calendar to see if the final day of the manna was important. Yes, it was! Thus, the manna stopped on what could be called "Good Friday" on the Priest Calendar because it was the Friday before Easter.
Finally, it was also two days before Easter on the Jubilee Calendar. That one does not have a column on my Religious Chronology page, but is listed in the Remarks column. But was that just a chance coincidence or is there an indication that we were supposed to look at the Jubilee Calendar? The answer is that day on which the manna began was Easter Sunday on the Jubilee Fixed Calendar. So there is a third witness for a "Good Friday" designation for the Friday before Easter.
Thus it was significant that Jesus was crucified on a Friday to fulfill this symbolism of the manna ending. Friday is the sixth day of the week, and Death is the sixth day of the Sacred Round (Skull). One more important point is that a symbolic cycle begin and end on similar days. The 40-years began on a holy day on the PHC: the Last Day of Passover. One would expect the period also to end on a holy day. It ended on Good Friday. And finally, my work has shown that most of the great prophets were born and died on holy days on multiple calendars. All except Jesus! Most of his alignments were on his birth and Easter, but not on the day of his death. At first, it did not appear to be a holy day on any calendar! Thus, this is an important enough discovery that Good Friday is hereby promoted to be a minor holy day in my work. Keep eating those hot cross buns on Good Friday!
One more witness is that the day of the Exodus on a Thursday 40 years earlier also fell such that Easter day during the Passover week was also Easter on the Priest cycle. That cycle is 168 days long and is totally independent of the Venus Calendar, so that is yet another witness that these dates were carefully designed. And the Last Supper fell on the same Thursday of the Priest Calendar, which ties to the Passover of the Exodus. There is much more here to be explored, but it may turn out the all three days are "holy", just like "Holy Thursday", "Good Friday", and "Easter".
This witness seems especially important today. It seems like every year there is increased talk of the "pagan" holiday Easter, and how it has nothing to do with the Resurrection of Christ. Yes, the name "Easter" and the Easter rabbit and Easter eggs trace back to pagan rituals, but the Sunday on which we celebrate Easter is almost always the very day indicated in the law of Moses to celebrate the Firstfruits of the Ground: the Sunday after Passover, which Christians calculate as the Sunday after the full moon, on or after the spring equinox. While the day to celebrate Easter (that name is used in all my articles because Christians use it and aren't thinking of any pagan meaning) is explicitly given in the law of Moses, this date of the manna ceasing is the first scriptural symbolism of Good Friday known to me. So this is an important correction indeed, especially when there is still uncertainty in some minds over the day of the week of the Crucifixion.
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On the day this article is being published, it was noticed that with the updated Venus Calendar model, suddenly the date of the Fall of Jerusalem jumps out as very symbolic. This is important enough for a separate section here because the date is given in the Bible to the very day. It is not a date that was found by using a pattern. The odds of it being any holy day on the Venus calendar are only 18 in 584.
The result is that day Thu 23 Jun 587 BC pm* (beginning of 9 Tammuz), was the day 1 Storm (SR), 1 Death (V), and 1 Death (M). The Mercury Calendar (M) can act like a second witness when it is important to notice something, like 1 Death on both it and the Venus Calendar. Secondly, the date of the Fall of Adam was published long ago in my work as being 1 Storm (SR), 1 Adult (V), 1 Death (M). Two of those three days are the same. That means it is an exact number of both Sacred Rounds and also Mercury cycles separating the Fall of Adam and the Fall of Jerusalem. The odds of that day being 0 or 1 Death (V) are only 2 in 584, and of also being 0 or 1 Death (M) are 2 in 5256, and that's not even counting being 1 Storm (SR). Those are enough witnesses of two different "Fall" dates, that it merits publication. And keep in mind, the date of the Fall of Jerusalem is given in the Bible. Most researchers agree that summer of 587 BC is the correct time.
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Now there is a whole new witness that shows up. The day of that second burning was the morning of Sun 3 Aug 70. Note again that the exact day is given by Josephus. It was not found by using sacred calendar patterns but is known to historians. That day was 1 Jehoiarib (P), but it was also 0 Lord (V) and 0 Death (M). Amazingly, the day of the Fall of Adam was both 1 Jehoiarib (P) and 1 Death (M)! So again there are two calendar cycles that come out exactly even between the Fall of Adam and the Second Burning of the Temple: the Priest and the Mercury cycle (the day 0 Death completes the cycle beginning on 1 Death). These are powerful witnesses, and also confirmations of the date of the Fall of Adam.
When this work began names were needed for some of the days and periods. The Mayans had provided some of the names from their Sacred Round, such as Quickening, Birth, Death and Resurrection. When it came time for me to name the first period, their descriptions sounded like the day of conception. They spoke of a spark of light and life beginning. The Mayan name for the first sign is Imix, which derives from "ix" meaning "womb". Several tribes had a symbol of a being floating in water, such as a crocodile, which might represent the baby in the womb before the spirit entered later on the day of quickening.
But "conception" did not seem to be the right name. The principal reason was that Venus was still up in the eastern sky at that time. It was still in "heaven", in the light, and had not yet entered the darkness of the womb, which it would do as it set on the day of Quickening (See Figs. 3 & 4). The only name that seemed correct was "Creation" which gave the idea, and was vague enough to cover whatever it might really mean.
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It is very much like when a missionary finds out where he has been assigned to work. One moment it was all anticipation, the next, after the word is spoken, plans begin to be made immediately and those plans cause events in the spirit world, and later in the physical world, to form. That seems to be a general pattern for creation, including how we create things too.[8] That is, "In the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1).
Let us define "Creation Pattern" to mean that an announcement is made on the day 1 Creation and that one or more phases of its fulfilment begin or occur on the first day of other phases of that same cycle. Right now we're talking about the planet Venus, but the definition is open to apply to other planetary calendars when they are more fully developed.
This section discusses four such examples. Each of them begins with an announcement on the day 1 Creation of a future event. The best example involves two fulfillment days: 1 Birth and 1 Resurrection. When more is understood, an announced project may involve all nine holy days and intervals. In the case of Venus, there is also an important tie to the Enoch Calendar of 364 days, which is divided into four equal seasons of 91 days each.
As shown in Figure 6, the nominal interval from Creation to Birth is 91 days, exactly one quarter of a year. Then the length from Birth to Adult is another 91 days. And finally, the interval from Adult to Resurrection is 182 days, or another half year. So all together, the usual interval from Creation to Resurrection is exactly one Enoch year of 364 days.
As you read the examples below of all the patterns discussed, keep in mind that the Venus Calendar follows the fixed pattern shown in this article to the very day and is only adjusted about once every twenty years by dropping 13 days from one cycle so that the average length is the true mean value of 583.92166 days rather than 585 days.[9] Thus when all three dates of a pattern occur within a few years of each other, there is no way that all these alignments can be forced by adjusting parameters. Moreover, the larger intercalation (adjustment) pattern also follows a strict pattern. That is what has made it so hard to produce a computer model all of these years. It was necessary to wait until the actual pattern God is using was discovered; otherwise there was no way that all of the dates could be produced with one simple, elegant model.
God has promised to give us a pattern in all things so that we may know the truth (D&C 52:14). Many of the mysterious passages of scripture involve patterns. The archetype example which led to the discovery of the Creation Pattern came from the somewhat mysterious visits of the angels to Abraham and Sarah to announce the coming birth of Isaac. Let us now look at that first classic example.
There is by far more detail given in the Bible about the birth of Isaac than any other prophet or patriarch. An earlier paper commented on all of the dates, but it is reviewed again here because the pattern had not been discovered until recently, but only the dates.
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Then the Bible says that "three men", who apparently were two angels and the Lord (see Figure 7), appear on the plains of Mamre and visit both Abraham and Sarah. It is here that the announcement is made to Sarah that she will have a son, which causes her to laugh (she was 89 years old). The Book of Jasher adds the detail that the angels came two days after the circumcision covenant (Jasher 18:2-4). Then the two angels go and destroy Sodom and Gomorrah on the morning after eating unleavened bread with Lot's family (Gen. 19:3).
The most likely day for the circumcision covenant is 10 Nisan, because that is the day that Joshua was told to circumcise all those who would cross the Jordan into the promised land (Joshua 4:19, 5:2). Moreover, eating unleavened bread sure sounds like Passover (the Feast of Unleavened Bread) even though the events predated the law of Moses. So it all fits perfectly: Circumcision on 10 Nisan, announcement of Isaac on 12 Nisan, and destruction on 15 Nisan (Passover).
The day of the angels' announcement, Mon 30 Mar 1953 BC, was published years ago in my articles.[10] But the significance of it being 1 Creation as an "announcement day" was unknown then.
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The birth date of Isaac on 10 Nisan was one Hebrew year after the law of circumcision had been given: Tue 16 Mar 1952 BC. And it was 1 Resurrection (V). Notice that the birth date is exactly nine months after the conception date.
Thus, Isaac's birth had three key dates which follow the pattern shown in Figure 6, shown again for Isaac in Figure 8. Isaac was announced on 1 Creation, conceived on 1 Birth, and then born on 1 Resurrection. No wonder so much detail was provided in the Biblical account; it provides a pattern which the Lord uses over and over. In the following examples, the announcement date is known in each case, but often only one of the two fulfillment dates is known (if any).
There is a classic example of this pattern in modern times concerning the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, considered to be holy scripture to the LDS people.
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1 Behold, I say unto you, that as my servant Martin Harris has desired a witness at my hand, that you, my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., have got the plates of which you have testified and borne record that you have received of me;
2 And now, behold, this shall you say unto him — he who spake unto you, said unto you: I, the Lord, am God, and have given these things unto you, my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and have commanded you that you should stand as a witness of these things;
3 And I have caused you that you should enter into a covenant with me, that you should not show them except to those persons to whom I commanded you; and you have no power over them except I grant it unto you. ...
11 And in addition to your testimony, the testimony of three of my servants, whom I shall call and ordain, unto whom I will show these things, and they shall go forth with my words that are given through you.
12 Yea, they shall know of a surety that these things are true, for from heaven will I declare it unto them.
13 I will give them power that they may behold and view these things as they are;
14 And to none else will I grant this power, to receive this same testimony among this generation, in this the beginning of the rising up and the coming forth of my church out of the wilderness — clear as the moon, and fair as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners.
15 And the testimony of three witnesses will I send forth of my word. ...
23 And now, again, I speak unto you, my servant Joseph, concerning the man that desires the witness —
24 Behold, I say unto him, he exalts himself and does not humble himself sufficiently before me; but if he will bow down before me, and humble himself in mighty prayer and faith, in the sincerity of his heart, then will I grant unto him a view of the things which he desires to see.
25 And then he shall say unto the people of this generation: Behold, I have seen the things which the Lord hath shown unto Joseph Smith, Jun., and I know of a surety that they are true, for I have seen them, for they have been shown unto me by the power of God and not of man.
26 And I the Lord command him, my servant Martin Harris, that he shall say no more unto them concerning these things, except he shall say: I have seen them, and they have been shown unto me by the power of God; and these are the words which he shall say.— D&C 5:1-26
Seen in context, this is an amazing revelation. Martin Harris had already broken a covenant with God and had allowed over a hundred translated pages to be lost and never recovered even today. Afterward, the Lord referred to him as a wicked man (D&C 10:1). But perhaps he was a wicked man who had learned a lesson. And perhaps wicked men are all that God has to work with! Martin would be replaced as a scribe the next month with the arrival of Oliver Cowdery to begin work on the part of the translation we have today.
Within that context, the Lord tells Martin that not only might he be allowed to witness the plates if he humbles himself, but that he could become one of three special witnesses who would be shown the plates by the power of God, and bear witness to the world that he had heard the Lord's own voice testify of them. That was a lot more that the quick peek he was apparently asking for, but he did indeed accept the challenge and go on to become one of the "Three Witnesses" of the Book of Mormon, just as he was offered.
The translation of the book was accomplished by mid-June 1829, and toward the end of the book it is mentioned that there will be three witnesses of it in the latter-days (Ether 5:4). As close friends of the Prophet were allowed to read the completed manuscript a few days later, three men, including Martin Harris, asked if they could be the three witnesses.
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She then records that shortly afterward the four men went to a grove near the Peter Whitmer home where they had come to read the finished manuscript. The vision was given and the men returned between three and four p.m. that afternoon.
Now looking at possible dates on the Venus Calendar, we see the pattern of Isaac's birth repeated perfectly. The date Thu 26 Mar 1829 was the day 1 Creation (V). This was apparently the day that it was first announced that there would be Three Witnesses to testify of the Book of Mormon. Then, three months later the day Thu 25 Jun 1829 was 1 Birth (V). That date fits all that is known about the timing of the actual vision of the Three Witnesses.
The third date in the series is one of the first Venus Calendar dates recognized and was published in the year 2000 before even the first article mentioning a Venus Calendar.[12] It is the date that the Book of Mormon was finished and/or first went on sale: Thu 25 Mar 1830, which was 1 Resurrection (V). When that was published it was shown to be a very rare date, which closely matched the date of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It seemed clearly to represent the "Resurrection of the Book of Mormon".
This is a perfect example of the "three-witness" pattern of Venus, meaning three dates on the Venus Calendar which are a "record in heaven" of when the events occurred. Indeed, Venus provides three witnesses of the Three Witnesses! First, the Three Witnesses are announced on 1 Creation, then their witnessing is done on 1 Birth, and finally, their witnesses are published in the Book of Mormon on 1 Resurrection. Note that all three days are on the same day of the week, being synchronized with the Enoch Calendar, and also that the last day is 364 days (one day short of our year of 365 days) after the announcement.
Both Joseph of Egypt and also Moses stood before the Pharaoh of their time and each made an important announcement. It is here proposed that both of these announcements were made on the day 1 Creation of the Venus Calendar, according to this pattern being discussed.
Joseph, when age 30 (Gen. 41:46), was called to interpret Pharaoh's dream. It has already been proposed that Joseph was born on Easter Sunday, 6 Apr 1801 BC.[13] For several years the choice for the day of him standing before Pharaoh has clearly been Fri 25 Jun 1771 BC pm* (after 6 p.m.), shortly after Joseph turned thirty years old. The day seemed indicated because it was the day 10 Tammuz on the Perpetual Hebrew Calendar, the same day on which his promised seer descendant, the Prophet Joseph Smith would be martyred.[14] There is often a calendrical link between fathers and sons (descendants), such as being born or dying on the same day on a sacred calendar.[15] Moreover, it was a holy day on the Venus Calendar, which is rare in itself. But it did not seem certain enough to publish without a third witness.
That witness now appears in the form of exactly which Venus holy it was. It was 1 Creation, the day for announcing future events, according to this pattern. The one or two dates that could complete this pattern, such as the exact day of the beginning of the years of plenty, are not known to me, but one would expect at least one related event on either the following 1 Birth or 1 Resurrection.
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Following the pattern being discussed here, a very probable day for Moses and Aaron to first announce that God commands that Pharaoh let the Israelites go to celebrate a feast to the Lord in the wilderness (Passover) is Mon 26 Jan 1462 BC. That day was 1 Creation (V), the announcement day in this pattern, occurring very shortly after Moses' 80th birthday.
The second date in the pattern was published years ago, before any knowledge of this pattern was known. The day 1 Birth (V) which follows that particular 1 Creation, is the day already proposed for the Parting of the Red Sea, Tue 14 Apr 1462 BC pm*, the Last Day of Passover.[17] Thus each of these dates now also serves as a witness of the correctness of the other one because of the Creation Pattern. That is, the day on which it was announced to let the Israelites go so they could celebrate Passover was 1 Creation, and then the day 1 Birth fulfilled that exactly on the Last Day of Passover, of their celebration. Truly the Lord has created a record in heaven of key religious events which we can learn to read.
Moreover, in this case there are two more witnesses that these dates are correct. The day of announcement to Pharaoh fell on 1 Dragon on the Sacred Round (SR). That is the day when evil enters one's life, and it sure seems to fit Pharaoh entering Moses' life. Moreover, the day of Parting the Red sea fell on 1 Wind (SR). That is also a perfect match because it was the wind that blew all night that parted the sea (Exo. 14:21). Moreover, the time that these calendar days lined up at that event was the night before the actual crossing date, exactly when the wind blew. So the Sacred Round provides two more meaningful witnesses of these dates being correct.
Recently two dates of modern times have been discovered also to fit the Creation Pattern. On Sun 6 Apr 2008 what appears to be the original location of Solomon's temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem was discovered. It is in a location north of the Dome of the Rock where no structure is currently located. The central axis of the temple, with some stones carved into the bedrock, can be seen in Figure 10, along with other features such as drainage channels and cisterns. The channels fit a temple of the Biblical dimensions.[18]
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That information alone was astounding to this author. It gave more credence to the proposal that the site was indeed the location of Solomon's temple which may have been purposely hidden until that very day.
Before that discovery, this author wrote an article in 2006 about the extremely rare event that the Seventieth Jubilee (70 x 49 years) from Joshua's crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land would occur on the evening of Sunday 5 Apr 2009. What was astounding was that it was a repeat of the date of the birth of Isaac: That evening would be 10 Nisan (PHC, being the day of crossing the Jordan), 1 Resurrection (V), 1 Birth (M), and 1 Serpent (SR). The article concluded that there was only a one in fifteen chance for such a combination to repeat even once in 7,000 years. So the date clearly seemed to be important but what might happen was a mystery.[19]
The main event that happened on Mon 6 Apr 2009 (10 Nisan, PHC) known to me was the President of the United States crossed the waters and announced in Ankara, Turkey, that the United States no longer considers itself a Christian nation.[20] It seemed like that might be the significant event because it seemed like the inverse of what Joshua did. That is, Joshua crossed the water and brought the worship of Jehovah to the Promised Land of Canaan. Barack Obama crossed the water away from the Promised Land of America and discounted the national worship of Jesus Christ (Jehovah). Time will tell what events are really turning points of history.
The reason both of these events are in this article is that these two very rare dates fulfill the Creation Pattern in that the first one on Sun 6 Apr 2008 the location of Solomon's temple was announced (or revealed) and the day 1 Creation (V). Then, 364 days later on Sun 5 Apr 2009 we have the day 1 Resurrection (V) which was an exact replica (which almost never happens!) of Isaac's birth on 1 Resurrection. And Isaac's birth on 1 Resurrection was the very day that led to the discovery of the Creation Pattern!
It is not clear how the two events are related, nor how one is the fulfillment of the other as expected in the Creation Pattern, but the discovery has to be included here in case the relationship becomes more clear in the future. In any case, those are two very rare dates in their own right.
In the middle of a revelation on Church priesthood government, the Lord does an amazing thing. He seems to divert into a totally different subject and then return. And the subject is so unusual that it may never have been quoted in any LDS sermon. The Lord gives the ordination dates of all the antediluvian patriarchs (D&C 107:41-52). What is that all about? If we are to live by every word that proceeds forth from His mouth, what are we to do with that? Moreover, he gives the ordination date of the patriarch Enos to the very month. Let's consider just that one date first.
Adam's grandson in the patriarchal line was named Enos, son of Seth. Very little is known about him today. In the Bible, all that is mentioned is his name, and birth and death years since Adam. Yet a clue pertaining to him is given in modern revelation which unquestionably ties him to the Venus Calendar.
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Back in 1988 when work began on discovering the relationship of Biblical chronology to a possible Venus Calendar, one of first things discovered were the dates of Enos' birth and ordination. That was because when the various Venus cycles were discovered, it turned out that 7007 days was a period that completed 12 Venus cycles, and that 7 of those periods (49,049 days) amount to 134 years and 4 months. There was no question in my mind that the Lord expected someone to notice the relationship to Venus.
By 1989 there was little question in my mind what the birth and ordination dates of Enos were. The proposed dates fit exactly into the both the PHC as occurring on the first day of a month, and also on holy days on even my earliest model of a Venus Calendar.
Very little time has been spent on those two dates since, but never published them because of uncertainties in the Hebrew Calendar (my Perpetual Hebrew Calendar version). As work was being finalized on my latest version of the Venus Calendar on 26 Mar 2013, and it was being verified that all anchor dates were produced correctly by the new model, the only date missed was the birth date of Enos, which had never been a problem before. At first I dismissed the problem because that date had not even published. Surely the date must have been in error if it were the only date missed.
That evening, after the new version was posted on line in my calendar conversions, a search was begun using the new calendar for what the correct date of his birth might have been. To my surprise, there had been no mistake. The dates for his birth and ordination were the only ones possible. It sunk into me that the only date that did not fit my new model was the most precise date given in revelation that clearly referenced the Venus Calendar.
Work was begun to determine what possible change could be made to the calendar that would also produce his dates correctly. It is a very tight pattern that does not allow much flexibility. Then on the evening of Fri 5 Apr 2013 about 8:00 p.m. the answer crystallized for me. Changes were implemented that made the overall pattern of intercalating (correcting from the nominal 585-day Venus cycle to the true synodic period of 583.92166 days) much more elegant, simplified the calendar, and gave the correct answers for all anchor dates, including Enos. The version called 5.85 now includes those minor corrections.
The actual dates may not be as important to know as the fact that it was getting those dates correct that helped finalize the Venus Calendar model. That may only be appreciated by someone else who attempts to repeat my work. It occurred to me that the whole reason that such a verse was included in the Doctrine and Covenants may well have been to get the Venus Calendar right.
The result is that it is here proposed that Enos was born on Sat 2 Jan 3765 BC and was ordained on Sat 18 Apr 3631 BC. The reader might notice that on our calendar those dates are only separated by 134 years and three and a half months. But on the Hebrew Calendar each year can start within about 15 days either way from the spring equinox, but each month starts at a new moon. It turns out that both dates would be on the first day of a PHC month, which are holy days. But more precisely, the two dates are separated by exactly 49,049 days.
On the Venus Calendar, both dates are "1 Prime", one of the principal holy days. Looking at the actual average position of Venus (used for the calendar), the longitude of Venus on the day of his birth was 496.5° and at the ordination 496.1°, showing just how accurate the 7007 day interval is, even after 7 cycles. There is no other such interval from two years before to two years after those dates where both dates fall on holy days on the Venus Calendar and also on the Hebrew Calendar (the first day of each month is a holy day on the Hebrew Calendar).
Here is another thought as this article is being finalized. If a different discovery route had been taken where this problem were only worked on after already having a correct Venus Calendar, and if the scripture had only said 134 years, then anyone may have picked the wrong date because there is another possibility. In particular, if Enos had been born on Fri 16 Oct -3765 pm*, 15 Tis (Tabernacles PHC, representing birth), 1 Adult (V), that would have been a great birth date. And Fri 1 Aug -3631 pm*, 9 Ab (PHC), 1 Creation (V) would be another option for the ordination date (9 Ab is associated with the Fall, perfect for Enos representing "mortal"). So by the Lord adding "and four months" it not only eliminated that possibility, but also required a subtle correction to the Venus Calendar. The Lord's foreknowledge is astounding!
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Dates in this table are arranged in chronological order. This order is instructive because many similar dates which are near each other are similar even though they are between men separated by several generations. When you look at the table notice how many identical dates occur near each other in the table. To facilitate seeing them, identical days near to each other are shown in bold italics. To me it appears too many to occur by chance, but the only pattern noticed so far to explain it is father-son links, which are described below in Section 6.1.
Because nearly all days listed are holy days, rather than put them in bold, dates which are not holy days are not listed. The abbreviations "b", "o", and "d" mean "birth", "ordination", and "death", respectively. The "Age" column lists the age of the person in Hebrew years and months of his father (for birth) or of himself (for ordination and death). Pointing to the age with the mouse will show the scripture where that age is given. There can be 13 months in a Hebrew year. There is one case where an age of 9.5 months past a year is counted as that year, otherwise it is rounded up to the next whole year, the lowest case being 3.5 months less than a year.[22]. Note that all birth dates are on Hebrew holy days, and on a day 1 on the Sacred Round (with one exception), and all ordination and death dates are either 13 or 1 on Sacred Round, and on 0 or 1 on the Venus Calendar (remember 13 and 0 are the last days of cycles). If the reader is interested in viewing the dates on other calendars, or to quarter-day accuracy, please refer to my Religious Chronology Summary.
Years on our Gregorian Calendar are listed in negative years, rather than BC, because my Religious Chronology Summary has been updated to do likewise. In all of my articles until now, BC years have been used because that is what historians use, and what most readers are familiar with. But astronomers have felt such years are "off" by one year because there is no "zero" year. So reckoning from BC to AD is always difficult because the two years cannot simply be subtracted to give the interval. It may be that both notations will be used henceforth in my articles. In any case, the rule is the any year BC is 1 greater than the astronomical notation. That is, 1 BC is 0; 2 BC is -1, etc. This subject is confusing enough without adding that dual notation, but the reader will see both used and it is good to understand the difference.
| Event | Gregorian | Age | Venus Day | PHC | S. Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adam b & o | Sat 17 Oct -4069 | — | 1 Birth | Tabernacles | 1 Eagle |
| Adam mortal | Sun 9 Apr -4000 | 0 | 1 Creation | Passover | 1 Deer |
| Seth b | Tue 3 Oct -3870* | 130y 6m | 1 Resurrection | Atonement | 1 Serpent |
| Seth o | Thu 12 Sep -3801 | 69y 0m | 1 Fulness | Trumpets | 1 Skull |
| Enos b | Sat 2 Jan -3764 | 105y 2m | 1 Prime | 1 Tebeth | 1 Skull |
| Cainan b | Sun 30 May -3674 | 90y 5m | 1 Creation | Firstfruits | 1 Skull |
| Enos o | Sat 18 Apr -3630 | 134y 4m | 1 Prime | 1 Iyar | 1 Eagle |
| Mahalaleel b | Tue 30 Apr -3604 | 70y 1m | — | 1 Iyar | 7 Dragon |
| Cainan o | Fri 7 Jun -3587 | 87y 0m | 1 Prime | — | 1 Monkey |
| Jared b | Mon 30 May -3539* | 65y 1m | 1 Prime | 1 Sivan | 1 Eagle |
| Enoch b | Fri 19 Sep -3377* | 162y 4m | 1 Lord | Tabernacles | 1 Eagle |
| Enoch o | Sat 21 Apr -3351 | 25y 6m | 0 Lord | — | 13 Light |
| Jared o | Sat 6 Apr -3339 | 200y -2m | 0 Prime | — | 13 Water |
| Methuselah b | Thu 11 Apr -3311 | 65y 6m | 1 Lord | Consecration | 1 Light |
| Methuselah o | Sat 13 May -3211* | 100y 2m | 1 Death | Firstfruits | 1 Quake |
| Lamech b | Tue 17 Mar -3124 | 187y 0d | — | Consecration | 1 Quake |
| Mahalaleel o | Thu 17 Apr -3108 | 496y 7d | 0 Lord | — | 13 Grass |
| Lamech o | Wed 24 Oct -3092 | 32y 8m | 1 Adult | Deluge | 1 Serpent |
| Adam d | Tue 26 Sep -3070 | 930y 6m | 0 Creation | End Taber. | 13 Grass |
| Seth d | Tue 7 Feb -2957 | 912y 4m | 0 Adult | Trees | 13 Reed |
| Enoch t | Wed 12 Oct -2947 | 430y 1m | 0 Lord | Deluge | 13 Reed |
| Noah b | Tue 3 Aug -2942* | 182y 5m | 1 Lord | 1 Elul | 1 Water |
| Noah o | Sat 28 Nov -2932 | 10y 3m | 1 Lord | — | 1 Storm |
| Enos d | Wed 9 Oct -2860* | 905y -3m | — | Tabernacles | 1 Skull |
| Cainan d | Sat 2 Feb -2764* | 910y -3.5m | 1 Creation | Trees | 1 Flower |
| Mahalaleel d | Tue 15 Jan -2708* | 895y 9.5m | 1 Creation | Trees | 1 Condor |
| Jared d | Mon 3 Nov -2577 | 962y 5m | 0 Prime | Deluge | 13 Jaguar |
| Lamech d | Fri 29 Aug -2347 | 777y 5m | — | 1 Elul | 13 Eagle |
| Methuselah d | Tue 16 Apr -2342 | 969y 0d | 1 Quick | Consecration | 1 Skull |
| Noah d | Fri 26 Dec -1992* | 950y 3m | 1 Prime | Lights | 1 Eagle |
On a personal note, this project has been a life-long pursuit for me. My first attempt to get all of these ages correctly from scriptures, including the Book of Jasher, was published in 1968, and is still available on my website.[23] So this paper is the culmination of a research project that began 45 years ago!
There is something important to note about Seth's birth date: it is an exact parallel to Isaac's birth. Father Abraham is like Father Adam in his role as "Father of the Faithful" (D&C 138:41). This article has extensively reviewed the birth of Abraham's chosen son on 10 Nisan (Consecration), 1 Serpent (SR), and 1 Resurrection (V). Seth was the chosen son of Adam (D&C 107:42). His proposed birth date is 10 Tishri (Atonement), 1 Serpent (SR) and 1 Resurrection (V). So on the Sacred Round and Venus Calendars they are identical. The PHC holy days 10 Nisan and 10 Tishri, exactly six months apart, are the spring and autumn equivalents of very similar symbolism: being "consecrated", "appointed" and "reconciled to God". The name "Seth" means "Appointed" to replace Abel (Gen. 4:25). Moreover, Father Abraham himself was born on Atonement, 10 Tishri, which was also the day that Isaac was offered to be the appointed sacrifice. The calendrical symbolism is rich indeed!
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That was also the exact pattern relating the ordination date of his father Jared to the baptism of Christ. That is, it came out even on those two same calendars. Both the Savior's baptism and his transfiguration occurred on the Feast of Tabernacles on the Enoch Fixed Calendar, as did the ordinations of both Jared and Enoch. But the days on the Sacred Round matched both also.
Note also that the Sacred Round days are meaningful for both events. That is, the baptism of Christ on 13 Water couldn't be better, and the day he shone with light couldn't be better than 13 Light. These multiple witnesses from Jared (meaning "Descend" or "Baptism") and his son Enoch (meaning "Initiated) each linking to events in the Savior's life corresponding to their names is so far beyond chance as to be absolutely certain that the dates are correct, and that God knows the end from the beginning. The Lord's revelation of these ordination dates has produced a compelling witness of the foreknowledge of God.
Now it is finally time to comment on what was suggested might be the "strangest" of all scriptures in my first article on the Venus Calendar. That is that in the revelation of the ordination dates, the date of Mahalaleel is given to the very day: 496 years and 7 days (D&C 107:46). Do you know a stranger scripture? The man is 496 years old. What possible reason could the Lord have to mention an extra 7 days? In that article it was asked "Or could it be a clue needed to solve a puzzle which might otherwise be ambiguous?"[24]
The answer only became clear as the above table was being prepared last week. The toughest one of all was Mahalaleel, the very one for which the most precise information had been provided. The reason was that there was what appeared to be a perfect fit at exactly 496 years. The day Fri 28 Jun -3604 was 1 Tammuz (PHC) and 1 Temple (SR), and it fit the time period of his birth perfectly. 1 Temple is the day that represents birth on the SR. What could be better? And an obvious day for his ordination was Sun 8 Jun -3108 am which was again 1 Tammuz (PHC) and 0 Quickening (V). Perfect!! And it appeared to be the only possible pair of dates, which was the usual case. If the Lord had said only that it was 496 years, there would have been little doubt that such perfect dates exactly 496 years apart were the correct choice.
Never "want" anything to be true. It is either true or not. Wanting truth to be different only leads to darkness. The good news is that the Lord knew that anyone doing this work would have made an incorrect choice at this point, and so provided exactly what was needed to say that choice was wrong!
The reason it had appeared that there was no other choice was that it had been assumed that every birth date had to occur on a day 1 of the Sacred Round. But that was not true of the dates of the births of the twelve sons of Jacob. It turned out that three of them were on a day 7, which means that their day of circumcision would be on a day 1. One of those dates was 7 Dragon, the birth date for Zebulon and his twin sister Dinah.
So the search was repeated, allowing any day 7 on the Sacred Round to be a birth date. Sure enough, there was one other choice, namely the one listed for Mahalaleel in Table 4. And the birth date was 7 Dragon. It is not clear to me why that date is allowed, or if all "7" dates are allowed, but surely the reader can see how this one exception to what looked like a rule required that the Lord provide the information of "496 years and seven days" to get the right answer!
Think about that for a moment. If Joseph Smith had been making all of this up, would he ever have added those seven days? And that extra week was at the exact point where there were actually two choices, and the correct one appeared to be disallowed? There is no way to believe that Joseph Smith was fabricating that revelation. It is one of the strongest witnesses possible of the truth of these scriptures.
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The first Patriarch to the L.D.S. Church, Joseph Smith, Sr., was ordained on Wed 18 Dec 1833 (DHC 4:190). He was ordained by his son, Joseph Smith, Jr., the President of the Church. That day was 0 Lord on the Venus Calendar, being a holy day, just as were all of the antediluvian ordination dates.
The ordination date was also sacred on both the Sacred Round and also the Mercury Calendar. That is not surprising because every holy day on the Venus Calendar is also sacred on the other two because they are all three synchronized. The rare thing is to be a sacred date on the Venus Calendar because only 18 days of every 584 (on the average) are sacred.
It might also be noted that this paragraph is being written shortly after the announcement of the death of the last LDS Church Patriarch, Eldred G. Smith, at the age of 106. The original office of Presiding Patriarch, later changed to Church Patriarch, was retired in 1979 when he was given "Emeritus" status. The office has now been replaced by many LDS stake patriarchs, who each are assigned to the area of their residence. He is a great example of "enduring to the end" because he continued to give patriarchal blessings in his Church office for the rest of his life.
The reader at this point may have a question in mind as to just how rare all these date alignments really are, and whether or not I might not simply be finding what is sought because what is found is "defined" to be the true answer. In other words, all these alignments are interesting, but were these people really born on their proposed birth dates? Or in yet other words, what if another pattern had been chosen, such as the patriarchs being ordained on holy days on the Priest Calendar rather than the Venus Calendar. Couldn't suitable dates have been found using that criterion? And from another perspective: suppose you were God and wanted to provide a pattern in all things so that your children could discover how to read the record in heaven. How would you make it clear which is the true pattern that correctly leads to the truth? The answer has to do with God's house being a house of order (D&C 132:8).
The way that He has told us that He works is that he not only provides the pattern, but also provides two or three witnesses. In fact, the Priest Calendar was considered as a possible pattern for all the patriarch ordination dates because many of my proposed dates were on Priest holy days. What was needed was a pattern that worked for all of the patriarchs.
In any given year there are one or two days which match either the Venus Calendar or Priest Calendar pattern. That has been known to me for years, but how could it be determined which dates were correct? The answer is fairly easy after it is known. If the dates are all just random holy days with no other pattern, then it could have all been a result of chance. But if there are two or three other witnesses, then the probability of lucky alignments goes to virtually zero very rapidly. Let us now look at one kind of both two- and three-witness patterns.
One common pattern is that both the birth and death dates complete an exact number of cycles on some calendar. That is, when one finds the one date in the birth year and the one date in the death year that fit the pattern being used, if both fall on the same holy day on the same calendar, then that is a big clue that the dates are correct. Again, if this only happened occasionally, it would not prove anything, but if all (of even many) of the prophets and patriarchs had this happen, it would be so far beyond chance as to remove all doubt that something more than luck was causing it.
In fact, that was one of the first things noticed. Table 5 lists some prophets which exhibit that result. Keep in mind that there are almost certainly Mars, Jupiter and Saturn calendars also. Lives could be exact cycles on those calendars, which haven't been developed by this author yet, so they wouldn't show up in my study. With that in mind, notice how many prophets have birth and death dates complete a whole number of calendar cycles.
| Name | Holy Day | Calendar | Cycles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adam | 1 Creation | Venus | 582 |
| Enos | 1 Skull | Sacred Round | 1,271 |
| Cainan | 1 Creation | Venus | 569 |
| Jared | 1 Prime | Venus | 602 |
| Enoch | 1 Lord | Venus | 269 |
| Methuselah | Consecration | PHC | 969 |
| Rebekah | 1 Jaguar | Sacred Round | 186 |
| Jacob | 1 Birth | Venus | 92 |
| Jesus Christ | 1 Lord | Mercury | 104 |
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My papers have been focused on Jesus Christ. They have discussed how his short life of 33 years followed the same pattern as the ancients. It was not long enough to have all big events happen at the end of Venus cycles, but in Section 2.1 it was shown that major events of his life occurred at all nine key points of the Venus cycle.
Nevertheless, his life was long enough to come out even in the shorter Mercury cycle, which is set up in the same Evening-Morning Star pattern as is Venus. It's cycle is completed 11 times in 3.5 years, so it makes a great timer for short periods. In my articles, it's been shown that His life was exactly 104 Mercury cycles from birth to resurrection, and it also equaled 103 "mercs" of 117 days each.[25] The 3.5 years from His baptism to Resurrection completed exactly 11 Mercury cycles.
So what about John the Baptist? His life does not appear to have been set up on the Venus cycle. From the beginning of my work, it was clear that it is on a Mars cycle instead, and work has not been begun on that until the Venus Calendar was done.
But this seems like a good place to put in something about John the Baptist concerning his life cycles. In an earlier paper, a birth date of Wed 6 Oct 2 BC was proposed for him, being exactly six months prior to the Savior's birth (Luke 1:24-27). That day was the Day of Atonement (10 Tishri on PHC), 1 Monkey (SR), and 1 Adult on the Mercury Calendar (M). There it was shown to tie to the Jubilee Calendar because the trumpet is to be sounded to announce the Jubilee year on the Day of Atonement. That coming year would indeed be the jubilee year which would bring the Savior.[26]
Now it's time to propose his death date. Sat 18 Oct AD 31 was Tabernacles (PHC), again both 1 Monkey (SR) and 1 Adult (M). It fits the time of John's death described in the New Testament.[27] If that were his death date, then his life completed exactly 45 sacred rounds, so he also matches the pattern. A Mars cycle is almost exactly 780 days (779.93651 days), which is exactly 3 sacred rounds of 260 days. So John's life would have been exactly 15 Mars cycles. Moreover, 45 x 260 = 11700 days, so that period is also exactly 100 mercs of 117 days each! And that turns out to be almost exactly 101 cycles of Mercury. And finally, there is an approximate 4/3 ratio of the cycles of Mars to Venus. That is, 780/585 = 4/3. The ratio is exact, but 585 days is not exactly the period of Venus (583.92 days), so his life only approximates 20 Venus cycles.
In most of the other dates in my papers there is quarter-day accuracy. In this case, a slight modification seems to improve it even more. John was beheaded during the birthday feast of King Herod, when he immediately ordered John's execution at the request of his daughter. That feast probably occurred at night. The preceding evening would begin 15 Tishri, the Feast of Tabernacles (PHC). But on the Sacred Round it would be 13 Dog rather than 1 Monkey. That is actually a better fit for two reasons. First, the Mayan priests said that Dog represented the day of greatest suffering (and 13 represents the culmination or peak). Secondly, it exactly completes the cycle, being the last day, whereas 1 Monkey is actually the first day of the next cycle counting from his birth. It often occurs that when it is the completion of a cycle that is indicated, that it ends on the last day.
Thus, it is proposed that John died on Fri 17 Oct AD 31 pm* (after 6 pm) on Tabernacles (PHC), 13 Dog (SR) and 0 Adult (M). Did the feast of the king also coincide with the sacred feast day held by the Jews? Although that is possible, it does not seem likely to me because the way that the Judean Calendar was calculated at that time probably would have put their feast of tabernacles a month earlier. On the other hand, at that time the first month of the year in the spring was sometimes postponed for a month because of bad weather or roads preventing people from coming to Jerusalem for Passover. Those details of their actual observational calendar are not well known, but it is interesting that Herod's birthday feast may have coincided with an actual feast of the Jews.
If anyone thinks I'm making all these impressive numbers up, think again. Remember, Luke tells us that John was six months older than Jesus (Luke 1:24-27). To have his birth date occur exactly six months before Jesus birth, on the Day of Atonement in a jubilee year, and then also on 1 Monkey (SR) is not something that can be faked. All of these amazing calendrical alignments in the Biblical timetable makes a strong case that John's birth and death dates also form a witness of who he was (a great prophet following the pattern of the ancients), which in turns adds to his witness of who Jesus Christ was.
So why is this section included in this paper on the Venus Calendar if John's life was on the Mars Calendar? Because even his short life can now be added to the list of prophets whose lives are a whole number of three separate cycles, starting and ending on holy days on all cycles. That's such a short list that I don't know anyone else on it. So in the next section about Perfect Double Cycle lives, keep in mind that John the Baptist has a perfect triple cycle life! (King Herod's daughter Salome probably gets no credit for this!) And his birth and death dates were also holy days on the PHC, which is not one of the three cycles.
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Jared ("Descend"), who represents baptism, is included to show how his dates link to both the baptism of the Savior and of the earth at the Deluge. His son Enoch ("Initiate") also ties in exactly the same way to the transfiguration of Christ as his father Jared does to the baptism. When more is understood, similar links might be found for other patriarchs, such as Seth ("Substituted" or "Appointed"), Enos ("Mortal", being born and dying on 1 Skull), Methuselah ("Branch"), and Noah ("Rest").
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While two witnesses are good, three are better. By adding a third key date in the life of a person, it can create cycle counts with both the life and death dates. In other words, there in a birth-event interval, event-death interval, and birth-death interval. So while two dates provide only one interval, three dates give three intervals!
One of the first clues that God wants us to notice this possibility, is that for the antediluvian patriarchs, he lists all three periods: the age at which they begat their son, and then how many years they lived after that, and then what their total life span was. There is the pattern, three events and three periods listed.
Table 7 lists people whose lives were an exact number of cycles (starting on a holy day), and who also had a major event in their life also occur on the same holy day of that cycle. The first number of cycles listed is the number from the holy day of their birth to the event, followed by the number of cycles until their death. As this table was being prepared the word "begat" was reinvented and finally appreciated. Without that word it said, "Jared's son Enoch was born" which was just too long!
| Name | Holy Day | Calendar | Cycles | Event | Cycles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enos | 1 Skull | Round | 127 | Begat Cainan | 1,144 |
| Jared | 1 Prime | Venus | 125 | Ordination | 477 |
| Jared | 1 Eagle | Round | 228 | Begat Enoch | 1,124 |
| Enoch | 1 Lord | Venus | 16 | Ordination | 253 |
| Enoch | 1 Lord | Venus | 41 | Begat Methuselah | 228 |
| Methuselah | Consecration | PHC | 187 | Begat Lamech | 782 |
| Jacob | 1 Birth | Venus | 35 | Rachel & Leah born | 57 |
| Jesus Christ | 1 Lord | Mercury | 93 | Baptism | 11 |
It has been apparent from the beginning of this work that very often fathers and sons have birth, death, or event dates in common on various calendars. It began when searching for the birth dates of the patriarchs. Repeated it was found that the most likely dates had far more identical dates for fathers and sons than would be expected by chance. By the way, this work began by comparing star charts with actual positions of planets at key stars. After developing the calendars that process has been minimized, but it was back then that the father-son links were discovered. It was that there was a planet at the same star for fathers and sons. But that is another story for another day.
Would these father-son links occur only for amazing prophets or could they happen to a typical person like me. I looked at my own family's birth dates. To my amazement, my firstborn son was born on the same day as I was on both the Sacred Round and also the Mercury Calendar. To find out how unlikely that was, I went to my web page on Realignment Cycles, chose two cycles and looked for best alignment days for the Sacred Round (260 days) and Mercury Cycle (115.877538 days). The first alignment in my adulthood was at 9,620 days. That meant there was no shorter period that aligned the Mercury cycle with the Sacred round better than that. I subtracted the two Julian Day numbers for our birth dates using my Calendrical Spreadsheet and was astounded to see that he was born exactly 9,620 days after my birth (nearly to the hour). That is so far beyond chance that it was enough to keep me going on this project. And remember I only had looked for it in my family after it had been discovered with the patriarchs.
Later when birth dates of some of the wives of the patriarchs were found, it was also found that their vital dates were even more entwined with their husbands than the fathers to sons. Moreover, the mother-child links were just as strong as the father-son, so they are now called "parent-child". Let's begin by looking at the father-son links in the ancient patriarchs listed above as well as another modern example. Then some of the best husband-wife calendrical links are discussed. Again, concerning dates that have already been published, rather than repeat here all the details of what they are and how they were found, if the reader is interested they can all be found on my Religious Chronology Summary with links directly to the paragraphs of articles discussing those dates.
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"Link" means that both father and son were born, ordained, or died on the exact same holy day on one of the calendars (with 0 and 1 counted as the same). Each one represents about a 1 in 365 (Perpetual Hebrew Calendar — PHC), or 2 in 585 (Venus), or 1 in 260 (Sacred Round) chance that a father and son just happened by chance to have a life event on the same day. The heavy lines represent direct father-son links, whereas the lighter lines represent the second or third generation links. In every case but one there is at least one father-son link. In the one exceptional case there are two links between Jared and Enos instead. So father-son links truly appear to be a pattern.
The shapes of the boxes indicate the life event. The first square-cornered boxes represent birth. All patriarchs have at least one diagonal-cornered box in the center, which contains the ordination date. Then the final square box dates are the date of death (or translation in the case of Enoch).
The boxes are color coded to help identify which calendar is being referred to. That is only a convenience because even in black and white the names of the holy days are nearly all unique to each calendar. Holy day names in italics refer to an event happening on the very holy day which represents that event. That is, one day per cycle on each calendar represents "birth". If the man is born on that day, the holy day name is in italics. For example, on the PHC, Tabernacles represents birth (when one gets his "tabernacle" of clay). Similarly, those who died on 1 Skull are in italics for the same reason. The corresponding day for ordination may well be 1 Eagle ("Fulness" of Priesthood?), but that is not yet clear.
On the chart, all dates are on the Venus, PHC, or Sacred Round calendars except for two dates. Adam's death date on the Enoch Calendar is Atonement, and that is the only calendrical link known so far to Seth (whose birth followed a special pattern discussed above). And finally, Noah's death date was on "End Watering" on the Jubilee calendar. That calendar does not seem to be used much for birth and death dates, but rather for events such as the Deluge. But it seemed like such a nice touch to have the "Watering" millennium in one way end with the death of Noah that it just had to be included.
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Just to show that these patterns still work today, it might be well to give a modern-day example. It can be very short: both the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother the Patriarch Hyrum Smith were martyred on the same day: Thu 27 Jun 1844. That day was 10 Tammuz on the PHC, which was mentioned in my article on the martyrdom.
But the point here is that their mother Lucy Mack Smith was born on Sat 8 Jul 1775, which was also 10 Tammuz (PHC) after sunset. As just discussed, this is a common pattern that the birth and death dates of parent and child will be identical, especially on the PHC or Sacred Round Calendars.
There do not seem to be any birth or death years for women mentioned in the Bible except in the case of Sarah, the wife of Abraham. We are told she was ten years younger than he, and that she died at age 127 (Gen. 17:17; 23:1-2). Fortunately many of the wives' birth and death dates are included in the Book of Jasher. Those dates were tested in my work and found the book to be an extremely reliable source for secular history such as genealogy and dates.[29] It has the birth and death years of Rebekah, wife of Isaac, and also of both Leah and Rachel (wives of Jacob). As we look at these proposed dates, it would be wonderful if each reader could know how rare such impressive dates are at all, much less linking in so many ways to their spouses.
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Abraham's proposed birth date is Wed 5 Oct 2052 BC. It was the Day of Atonement (PHC), and also the day 1 Temple, which represents birth on the Sacred Round. The day was nothing special on the Venus Calendar, but probably when a Jupiter Calendar is completed it will be a big day there (because some texts refer to Jupiter as his planet).
The Book of Jasher states that Sarah died from joy on the day that Isaac was nearly sacrificed, where she learned that her only son had been spared. The date proposed here for that offering is Fri 20 Sep -1914 pm*. That day was sacred on many calendars: It was the Day of Atonement (PHC), the holiest day of the Hebrew year, and most likely day for such an offering. It was also 0 Aut (the Autumn Equinox) on the Enoch Calendar (E), 1 Deer (SR), 1 Quickening (V), and 1 Prime (M). Thus, it was a holy day on the Venus Calendar, which is what brought it to my attention for this paper. But the Venus alignment most likely ties this event being a big day in the life of Isaac, whose life is tied to the Venus Calendar.
The point for this section is that the proposed date for Sarah's death matches that for Abraham's birth on the PHC: the Day of Atonement, 10 Tishri. In all of the cases considered here where a death date is known, the husband or wife dies on the birthday of their spouse.
The summary of the husband-wife ties known so far are:
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The date already proposed for Isaac's birth is 10 Nisan (PHC), 1 Serpent (SR), 1 Resurrection (V), and 1 Birth (M) and the date already proposed for Rebekah's birth is 1 Kislev (PHC), 1 Jaguar (SR), 1 Birth (V) and 1 Resurrection (M). All of those dates are holy on those calendars. As was pointed out in an earlier paper, notice that the holy days for Venus and Mercury were reversed from Isaac's. That is the first husband-wife tie between them, even at their birth dates. The clue that it is not just a chance coincidence is that the same reversal occurs between Isaac and his brother Ishmael.
The date proposed for Rebekah's death was published in 2005: Sat 6 Apr 1790 BC pm*, which was the same day as her birth date on the Sacred Round (1 Jaguar). Many of these patriarchs and matriarchs had lives that completed an exact number of cycles on these sacred calendars. The proposed death date is also Easter Sunday (PHC and Enoch), 1 Lord (V) and 1 Creation (M). While this is an impressive date, it does not show any link to Isaac's birth.
Isaac lived to be 180 (Gen. 35:28-29). His death date has not been published until now because it was uncertain until there was a better model of the Venus Calendar. Now it is clear: the proposed date for Isaac's death is Mon 3 Nov 1773 BC pm, which was 1 Kislev on the PHC, 13 Eagle (SR), 0 Lord (V) and 0 Prime (M). That date is 4 months short of a 180-year lifespan, so it is a good data point to know when to round up to the next year. The Book of Jasher records an important story omitted from the Biblical account. It was that Isaac called his sons Jacob and Esau and blessed them both on the very day he died. That made the day doubly holy because days of blessings are important also.
Isaac's death date adds two more calendrical links to Rebekah, in addition to the similarity noted between their birth dates. Here's the entire list of links so far:
When all four of their birth and dates are already so incredibly rare, being holy days on multiple calendars, it is beyond my comprehension to see how the husband and wife can also be tied in three separate ways. Abraham's servant definitely picked the correct camel-watering damsel to be Isaac's wife, which Rebekah's father Bethuel understood immediately (Gen. 24:50-51).
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The Book of Jasher tells us that Leah and Rachel were twins (Jasher 28:28), as were Jacob and Esau. Their birth date has already been published as being the Feast of Esther (PHC), 1 Storm (SR), 1 Birth (V), and 1 Fulness (M). So right away we see that Jacob, Leah and Rachel were all born on 1 Birth (V), making the first calendrical link between them.
Rachel died on the same day she gave birth to her second son, Benjamin. That day was 1 Sivan (PHC), a holy day suited to the birth of Benjamin, putting him in the twelfth slot of the zodiac constellations with his eleven brothers. The day was also 1 Adult (V), a holy day on the Venus Calendar, which seems to fit Rachel better because not all of the 12 sons were born on Venus holy days. On the Sacred Round, the day was 1 Jaguar, which was the same day as her mother-in-law's (Rebekah's) birth and death. That death was only three Sacred Rounds earlier (780 days) which happens to be exactly one Mars cycle. So it will turn out to be the same day on a Mars Calendar when that is discovered!
So we see ties of Rachel's death date to her son Benjamin (died on the very day of his birth), to Rebekah, but not to her husband Jacob.
The second tie of Jacob to Rachel is in Jacob's death date. Besides being all those amazing things on the PHC and Venus Calendar, Jacob also died on 1 Storm (SR), the very day of both Leah and Rachel's birth!
What about Leah? She also died young at age 50, whereas Rachel had been only 48. And like Rachel's death date, Leah's death date does not show any link to Jacob. Her proposed death date was on 1 Tammuz (PHC), 1 Light (SR), 1 Resurrection (V), and 1 Adult (M).
Thus, the summary of the husband-wife ties are:
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What about Asenath? What do we know about her anyway? Wasn't she the Egyptian daughter of Potipherah?
For years a Bible Puzzle has been posted on my website, which was also published as two articles in Meridian Magazine, as the puzzle and my answer. If the reader wants to do the puzzle, skip this section and look at the puzzle link in the footnotes.[30]
This section will show that I take the solution to the puzzle seriously. The answer is that there is a hidden message in Genesis 45 that Asenath was only the adopted daughter of Potipherah, but actually was the blood daughter of Dinah and Shechem. Dinah was Joseph's only sister. So if the puzzle solution is meaningful, then Joseph married his niece (his sister's daughter), very similar to the pattern set by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
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That would make Asenath age 19 when Joseph was 30 and stood before Pharaoh. That matches closely most of the legends about her that usually have her being 18 when he was 30.[31]
Death dates are not known with any certainty for either Joseph or Asenath, but this seemed like a good place to at least publish what looks like her birth date, as well as the one strong tie between their birth dates.
Thus, the summary of the husband-wife ties are:
An updated version of the Venus Calendar was presented which has 9 pairs of holy days rather than 8. Correspondence with the Sacred Round was proposed with all nine holy days being represented there also. With an improved intercalation scheme it was then shown that all nine holy days occurred simultaneously with PHC holy days during the Savior's life, on key event dates. Then other corrections to former results were reviewed which resulted in discovering evidence that "Good Friday" is a legitimate holy day on several calendars and also that the Fall of Jerusalem ties to the Fall of Adam. Next the "Creation Pattern" was explained along with four examples. Then the calendar was applied to discovering all of the ordination dates of the antediluvian patriarchs which all follow the pattern of having occurred on Venus holy days. That pattern was also followed in ordaining the first modern-day Presiding Patriarch. Then interrelationships of all of those dates were analyzed, noting a) dates linked chronologically, b) birth-death links of an individual, c) sometimes with a key life event included, d) parent child links and finally e) husband-wife links for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.
Taken all together, it forms a massive amount of compelling evidence that important religious events of history have indeed been recorded in the heavens, giving precise dates often with quarter-day accuracy all the way back to Adam. It is a witness of the hand of God, of the prophets, of scriptural history, and most especially of Jesus Christ. Truly, the heavens literally bear record of Jesus Christ!
